Ether Holds Near $2,700 Even as ETFs Shed $206 Million

Ether is taking punches from several directions, yet the price is still standing near $2,700.

U.S. spot Ether exchange-traded funds have now posted five straight sessions of withdrawals. Derivatives traders are leaning harder into selling.

Long-dormant coins have started moving. Normally that combination would look like a clean warning that a deeper breakdown is underway.

So far, it has not produced one.

According to CryptoSlate, spot ETH ETFs lost $50.76 million on October 5 and about $205.88 million since September 29. Cumulative net inflows fell to roughly $13.75 billion as Ether traded near $2,711.

The report found that Binance taker-flow data had turned sharply negative while open interest remained elevated. Aggressive sellers were pressing the trade even as the price absorbed their orders.

Ether still stood roughly 44% above its August 6 level. The broader advance had bent under the pressure, but it had not yet broken.

Onchain evidence was mixed rather than uniformly bearish. Dormant-coin activity jumped, yet exchange balances rose by only about 18,000 ETH before falling roughly 21,000 ETH the following day.

That gap matters because coins moving between wallets are not the same thing as coins arriving at exchanges to be sold. The market is seeing stress, not a confirmed rush for the exits.

Institutional demand has cooled

The five-day outflow streak followed a $17.1 million inflow on September 28. That reversal matters because ETFs have become one of the most visible channels for incremental institutional demand.

When money leaves them for several sessions in a row, the market has to find buyers somewhere else.

Prediction-market traders still see a meaningful chance of Ether touching $2,800 during October. CryptoSlate noted that the relevant contract counts an intramonth high, not a closing price, which is an important distinction when volatility is elevated.

🔷 NEW PREDICTION MARKET: Ethereum doesn't need to stay above a level for it to count.

A touch above $2,800 leads October's prediction market at 76.5%. The contract tracks intramonth highs, not the closing price.https://t.co/qGWBy6Jyk9

— CryptoSlate (@CryptoSlate) October 6, 2026

The market is therefore balancing weakening fund flows against a price that has not surrendered its recent gains. Ether remains roughly 44% above its August 6 level, despite the latest round of aggressive selling.

Dormant Ether moved, but it did not flood exchanges

Onchain activity added another layer of uncertainty. Santiment’s Age Consumed measure jumped to 580 million token-days on September 30, about nine times its normal September weekday level and the highest reading since June 2.

Long-dormant $ETH moved on Sep 30 at a scale we haven’t seen since early June. Exchange balances hardly budged.

📊 Age consumed hit 580M token-days on Sep 30, about 9x its September weekday average and the highest since Jun 2.
🔀 Exchange supply rose ~18K ETH that day and fell… pic.twitter.com/cDcts7Avm3

— Santiment Intelligence (@SantimentData) October 2, 2026

A spike in old-coin movement can signal that long-term holders are preparing to sell. This time, exchange balances barely moved.

They rose by about 18,000 ETH on September 30 and then fell by roughly 21,000 ETH the next day, against approximately 5.9 million ETH held on trading venues.

That pattern leaves room for custody transfers, staking activity or wallet reorganizations. The exchange data does not support the claim that dormant holders rushed to dump their coins.

Derivatives sellers are pressing their bet

The sharper pressure is in derivatives. Ethereum’s estimated leverage ratio fell to 0.66, a seven-month low, while Binance ETH open interest remained near $3.3 billion.

At the same time, Binance cumulative net taker volume swung from positive $1.94 billion on August 21 to negative $1.36 billion on October 5.

That $3.3 billion reversal shows aggressive sellers repeatedly crossing the spread. Yet Ether’s price has absorbed the flow without unwinding the broader advance.

If exchange reserves stay contained and institutional demand stabilizes, crowded bearish positioning could become fuel for a rebound. If ETF withdrawals broaden into actual exchange deposits, the same setup could finally crack.

For now, $2,700 is doing more than marking a price. It is measuring whether steady spot demand can outlast weakening ETFs and increasingly confident derivatives sellers.

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